Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I can't say enough that I think Pat Burrell should have been the Phillies left fielder again next season. He added a potent threat to pitchers that had to pitch around Ryan Howard and he fit in as a Phillies player for many years. Burrell wasn't fully respected in Philly though, his numbers were great but no one really brought up numbers, for some reason Pat's star dimmed in Philly. Was he Babe Ruth? No, not really but the Phillies thought enough of him to make him a very highly paid ballplayer in the past couple of years.

The Phillies not only gave up Burrell, when they added Raul Ibanez, but now the Phillies will be giving up their first round pick at #28 plus added to the fact the Mariners didn't even want to go beyond one year with Ibanez which made him available to the free agent market. Raul is 36 years old, an age when most offense hitters really start to decline for the most part. Does the Phillies brass know something that we don't about Ibanez for the next three seasons worth of production? If anything we needed a young stud out there in left, not an aging guy like Ibanez. He got the deal in my opinion for one reason, Pat Gillick. Pat's hands are all over this one. Gillick made no bones about that he was out to get rid of Burrell.

If Ibanez can return to his 2006 stats of 33 HR's and 123 RBI's this deal will look like gold, if Ibanez gets hurt because of his age, or hits less than 20 HR's and lower than 100 RBI's this deal could look as bad as the Garcia and Eaton signings by Gillick. The majority of this team was in place by 2004 with Ed Wade, with some tinkering it became the championship team of last year. With Burrell gone now, the landscape has changed to a less fertile field.

Monday, December 15, 2008

It was plain to see we wanted Pat resigned here on the Fightin Phillies blog, but with Raul Ibanez now signed, we now will close the Poll about whether or not the Phillies should resign him. What a player, and a nice guy, Pat Burrell, World Series Championship player, who used to play for the Phillies!
Rich Baxter - Fightin Phillies Blog

Listen to our interview with Scott Lauber from the Wilmington News Journal and his new book, Phillies Confidential that he co-authored with Gary Matthews. Scott talks to us about the upcoming season as well on this special holiday time edition of Phillies Talk also in conjuction with my other podcast at www.phillywebcast.com

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Just read an interesting article on Spring Training in Clearwater for 2009. Jim Salisbury from the Philly Inquirer has an interesting article about the Phillies we may see in this year's World Classic put on by the MLB. Read this article here.

If you have reservations for March 2009, you may want to double check whether or not you'll even see the familiar stars on the Phillies this year down in Florida. That answer could be, "no". A lot of the Phils will probably be getting the call for the World Classic and their own home countries. Hamels for the USA along with Utley and Howard. There's goes two thirds of the team's stars for goodness sake. So this year, I probably won't be going down for Spring Training as the stars will be thin for all the teams probably.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I am a Jamie Moyer fan. He goes to the ballpark to win, he signs autographs, he's a family man, and he singlehandedly dug up the pitchers mound and took it home after the Phillies won the World Series in 2008! How can't you like a guy like that?

Jamie Moyer had a career year last year, he almost beat Cole Hamels out for the top pitcher on the team. He had the most wins of any Phillies pitcher last year with 16. This could be the pinnacle of Jamie's career last year. Jamie was born in 1962 and made his major league debut in 1986. He is 46 years old now, and yes he had a great couple years with the Phillies. When he broke in with the Cubs he made $60,000 in 1986, last year he made $6 million pitching for the Phillies, the year before he made $6.5 million. During the years from 1998 through 2008, Jamie has made 62.8 million dollars from his pitching career according to Baseball Reference.com. Not too shabby. You can buy a co-op in Queens for that kind of money and still have a few million to play around with at the end of the day.

During the season Jamie pitched really well, he logged 196 innings for the team and amassed all those wins. In the playoffs, it was a different story. Jamie got absolutely blown off the mound against the Dodgers in a nightmarish game for him. I thought I saw Jamie's last pitching as a Phillies player that game. Not that one game tells a story, but Jamie had gotten away with that 78 mile pitch all year, but now it seemed like everyone was on to him. He couldn't buy an out if he wanted to. I was surprised that Jamie started a World Series game, I really was, the Dodgers had nearly torn him apart in the NLCS, and his 40.50 era proved it. It was perhaps the worst start by any Phillies pitcher in the playoffs in recent history. He did get that World Series start in Game 3 and he caught the young Rays off guard, he pitched 6.1 innings and scattered 5 hits with 5 strikeouts with 3 ER in a no decision for him, but the Phillies went on to win the game with a run in the bottom of the 9th inning and win 5-4.

My point is Jamie Moyer trying to be too cute? He's 46 now and if the Phillies offer a two year $15 - 16 million dollar deal, if I were him I would grab the nearest pen and start signing my name to the contract. He's not a guy who's going to command $10-12 million a year for two years let's face the facts. If fact, if the last two outings Jamie had were any indication of what is to come from him, who ever signs him could be in trouble. The Dodger game told a big story, Jamie can't hide from it. He's got a 83 mph fastball on a good day and it really seemed like it could have been all over for him in LA just a couple months ago.

Time will tell if Jamie rejoins the team, I would think he would want to end his career here, and no matter what happens to him in 2009, Phillies fans will always remember his stellar year in '08 - but that LA game still haunts me. Jamie do the right thing and sign your name, real soon!

The Phillies may have won the 2008 World Series, but don't tell that to the odds makers in the Las Vegas casino sports books who have put the Phillies in not as a favorite to repeat, but at odds of 10-1. The serious odds again are with the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox to get into the big game for 2009 and win.

Even the Mets have been given better odds to make the win the series in 2009 at 8-1. So once again, the Phillies will start off the season next year with being the underdog. Even the young Rays team has better odds to return as of now at 8-1. The Phillies haven't made any moves yet this offseason that will improve their odds, but don't they won't.

Buy them now at 10-1 and you'll be ahead of the game when the Phillies return to the World Series and win it all again!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Ruben Amaro has a cushion, he is currently the GM of the Philadelphia Phillies the team that won the World Series last year. The moves he's made so far: not too much to write home about. He basically just snubbed Jamie Moyer and Pat Burrell to leave them in limbo for next season as far as solidly making them part of the 2009 team.

In the newspapers, he seems like he's doing the right thing. "I don't want them getting a raise on my account" is what he is saying though. Just because they had such a great season. Other quotes has him just glossing over these two players, theorizing who could be out in leftfield, or who would take Jamie Moyer's spot in the rotation. That's gratitude, the 'new style' exuded from the front office. What have you done for me lately. Certain publications won't go out and say this, because for one reason or another they don't want to really say the truth, but I will! Amaro is the Grinch!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The Phillies did not want Jamie Moyer and Pat Burrell to take them to the cleaners legally through the arbitration channel next year that is. Both players had a great season and given what happened to the Phillies last year with Ryan Howard getting a big surprise with a 10 million dollar salary for the year made the Phillies shy away from the table this time around.

The Phillies have made it plain to see that they don't want Pat Burrell anymore. Why? That is a great question, he is an underrated player by the team even though he is the guy that the Phillies thought would carry the team some years ago. Here is how he ranks up there amongst left fielders in the National League:

Burrell is ranked as the 31st best outfielder in CBS Sportsline 2009 Fantasy rankings, they say he is streaky. The Phillies never really were a contender for Matt Holliday, he is ranked #1 by the CBS Sportsline '09 ranking. The Phillies now seem content with putting just about anyone out in left field next year, and it probably won't be Mr. Pat Burrell at any price. Again I ask why? Pat has got the Philadelphia attitude of winning down 'Pat' he doesn't complain and he understands what it takes to win and contributed to the Phillies post season wins really well last season. How about some loyalty by the Phillies, Pat is a lifelong Phillie, if anyone deserves some payback from the team it would be to him in my opinion.

Moyer: he is probably in the last year of his pitching career next year he is worth the money you give him just in experience to the other pitchers and he is one of the only players that signs autographs before the games that I've ever seen. In this day of the millionare stuckup ballplayer, he is a real gentleman. I don't mind paying to see a ballgame when I see the class that Jamie Moyer exudes everyday.

NEW YORK -- A full World Series share was worth $351,504 for the Philadelphia Phillies, below the record $362,173 set by the St. Louis Cardinals two years ago.

Major League Baseball said Tuesday that the players' pool for the postseason was $51.16 million, down from $52.46 million last year and a record $55.60 million in 2006.

Phillies players received $18.42 million and split it among 45 full shares, 7.039 partial shares and 15 cash awards. Last year, a full share on the World Series champion Boston Red Sox was worth $308,236, with players awarded 47 full shares, 14 partial shares and 11 cash awards.

Not too bad for the guys who didn't earn the millions like some of the Phillies players! Even the staff got in on the awards.